Harvard-Yale Rally Will Not Feature Artist

The College Events Board is scrapping the idea of headlining its Harvard-Yale pep rally with a star performer this year, saying that budget cuts and a desire to have a “more traditional” event have encouraged the CEB to highlight student organizations and the football team instead.

CEB Chair Kevin M. Mee ’10 and Vice-Chair James A. McFadden ’10 confirmed in interviews with The Crimson that the Nov. 19 pep rally would not feature a large performance as it did last year, when Girl Talk, a popular remix artist, took the stage—only to be prematurely forced off when a raucous crowd pushed against the stage, creating a safety hazard.

This year, the CEB is planning on holding several smaller events in the Yard that will last for a total of an hour, including an inter-House competition and performances from student dance clubs and the Harvard cheerleading team.

“It’s going to be a very fast-paced, one-after-the-other series of high-energy acts that’s going to serve in the place of one musical focus like we had last year,” said McFadden, noting that the CEB has not yet contacted student groups nor finalized the event schedule.

The changes to the pep rally come as the CEB—funded by the Office of Student Life—adjusts to College-wide budget cuts. But Mee said that while the reductions have limited the CEB’s ability to book big-name artists, the group would have chosen to have a scaled-down event regardless of financial concerns.

“I definitely think we would’ve moved in this direction, anyway, towards focusing back on the core focus of a pep rally, which was lost a little bit last year,” he said.

McFadden and Mee both said that a low-profile pep rally comes with its own unique challenges.

“The problem with the pep rally is that Harvard is not a school that’s big on school spirit, and many Harvard students are just not school spirit-type students,” said McFadden, who is also a Crimson editorial writer.

Nevertheless, he said that he is optimistic the event will have a good turnout.

“Even the average Harvard student who doesn’t care about Harvard football—who doesn’t care about Harvard sports, athletics, whatever—is still going to be excited,” McFadden said. “[They’ll] have a reason to be invested in the pep rally and want to come all the way from Mather, if you’re in Mather, to the Yard on a cold Thursday night. That’s our goal.”

—Staff writer Naveen N. Srivatsa can be reached at srivatsa@fas.harvard.edu.